Officially, 10.5% of Romania's population is represented by minorities (the rest of 89.5% being Romanians). The principal minorities in Romania are Hungarians (Szeklers and Magyars; see Hungarians in Romania) (especially in Harghita, Covasna and Mureş counties) and Roma people, with a declining German population (in Timiş, Sibiu, Braşov) and smaller numbers of Poles in Bucovina (Austria-Hungary attracted Polish miners, who settled there from the Kraków region in Poland in the 19th century), Serbs, Croats, Slovaks and Banat Bulgarians (in Banat), Ukrainians (in Maramureş and Bukovina), Greeks (Brăila, Constanţa), Turks and Tatars (in Constanţa), Armenians, Russians (Lippovans, in Tulcea) and others. Minority populations are greatest in Transylvania and the Banat, areas in the north and west, which were possessions of Hungary (since 1867 the as part of Austria-Hungary) until World War I.
Before World War II, minorities represented more than 28% of the total population. During the war that percentage was halved, largely by the loss of the border areas of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina (to the former Soviet Union — now Moldova and Ukraine), Black Sea islands (to the former Soviet Union — now Ukraine) and southern Dobrudja (to Bulgaria), as well as by the postwar flight or deportation of ethnic Germans.
Though Romanian troops participated in the destruction of the Jewish communities of Bessarabia and Bukovina, just under half of Jews from Romania survived the Holocaust. Mass emigration, mostly to Israel and United States, has reduced the surviving Jewish community from over 300,000 to less than 6,000. In recent years, more than two-thirds of the ethnic Germans in Romania have emigrated to Germany, leaving behind roughly 60,000.
In the Romanian voting law, all government-recognized ethnic minorities in Romania had been granted each a seat in the Chamber of Deputies since the fall of the Nicolae Ceauşescu regime. This is a list with all ethnic groups from Romania with more than 1,000 persons:
| Minority | Population (2002) | Percent of the total population |
Area |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hungarians (incl. Szeklers) | 1,431,807 | 6.6% | Transylvania, Bucharest |
| Roma | 535,140 | 2.46% | |
| Ukrainians | 61,091 | 0.28% | Bukovina, Maramureş |
| Transylvanian Saxons, Swabians | 59,764 | 0.28% | Sibiu, Braşov, Bistriţa, Timiş, Caraş Severin |
| Russians/Lipovans | 35,791 | 0.17% | Tulcea County |
| Turks | 32,098 | 0.15% | Dobrogea |
| Crimean Tatars | 23,935 | 0.11% | Dobrogea |
| Serbs | 22,518 | 0.10% | Timiş, Arad, Caraş-Severin, Mehedinţi |
| Slovaks | 17,199 | 0.08% | Arad, Bihor |
| Bulgarians | 8,025 | 0.04% | Banat |
| Croats/Krašovani | 6,786 | 0.03% | Caraş-Severin |
| Greeks | 6,472 | 0.03% | Dobrogea |
| Jews | 5,785 | 0.03% | Bukovina, Bucharest |
| Czechs | 3,938 | 0.02% | Caraş-Severin County |
| Poles | 3,559 | 0.02% | Suceava County |
| Italians | 3,288 | 0.02% | Bucharest, Timiş County |
| Chinese | 2,243 | 0.01% | Bucharest |
| Armenians | 1,780 | 0.01% | Gherla |
| Csángó | 1,266 | 0.01% | Western Moldova |
| Other: | 13,653 | ||
| Total: | 2276138 | Romania |
The Hungarian minority of Romania makes up 6.6 percent of the total population of Romania (1,431,807 citizens), and is the largest minority in Romania and one of the largest minorities in Europe.
Most ethnic Hungarians live in what is today known as Transylvania (where they make up about 20% of the population), an area that includes the historic regions of Banat, Crişana and Maramureş. They form a large majority of the population in the Harghita and Covasna counties and a large percentage in the Mureş county.
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